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Taiwanese youth more work-shy than foreigners

Taiwanese youths are less likely to work than their counterparts in other developed countries, Council of Labor Affairs statistics released this week showed.

In the 15-to-19 age range, 11.31 percent of Taiwanese have jobs, compared with 47.4 percent in the US.

For 20-to-24-year olds, 57.2 percent have jobs, compared with 70 percent in Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and the US.

"The low employment rate among youths in Taiwan is because of the increasing schooling rate. There are more graduate schools available, so the age at which people enter the job market is getting higher," said Lin Li-chen (林麗貞), director of the statistics department at the council.

The employment rate for people under the age of 20 fell from 15.94 percent in 1991 to 11.31 percent last year.

Lin said that many students in the US have part-time jobs.

"In contrast, Taiwanese parents do not normally encourage their children to work while attending school, so that their children can focus on their studies," Lin said.

By September, 15-to-24-year olds made up 143,000, or 12.41 percent, of the unemployed.

The council said the three major reasons for the high unemployment rate were: new graduates had little practical experience; an unbalanced job market provided more technological and scientific jobs than humanity or business jobs; and some students change jobs frequently seeking their ideal career.

The council is organizing a series of youth employment seminars and corporation visits that will run until next Tuesday.

Interested youths can check out http://www.ejob.gov.tw or call 0800-777-888 for more information.
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